Ruger and Federal ammo

[CEHollier]

I was told by someone who seems to be credible that they were having Ruger 22 pistols "leading up" (lead deposits) causing jams. They said they contacted Ruger and were told to shoot only Federal Blue Classic ammo. They said they did and the problem stopped. Any of you guys heard of such???

 

[Request Dust Off]

I once tried some Remington Thunderbolts. They leaded up .22 Neos after the barrel/chamber got really hot. I don't think Rem golden bullets would have been a problem or thunderbolts with slower firing. The accuracy went off all of a sudden so when it happened it happend, not gradually. I'ver never had a leading problem with any other cheap .22 bulk ammo.

http://www.rimfirecentral.com/ has a lot of guys trashing Rem ammo but I had just a many problems with federal. The golden bullets (GB's) have some lube to the bullet. Failures to feed, fire & extract. Every round has a different report. I'm starting to be more diligent in tracking what works & what doesn't. I think the gun lube I was using may have been a factor.

I have noticed that Wal-mart & Academy has the GB's in two different style boxes one has 550 & one has 525. One has Federal in a blue box & the other has the maroon box. I was just given some CCI that was $8.00/100. I have not tried them but that sort of defeats the cheapness of .22 at least for plinking.

 

[mrmccoy]

I have a MKIII and it shoots federal bulk fine but I haven't really shot too much of anything else. I could see if you shot several thousand rounds without cleaning but I would think keep it clean and you will be fine. just my $.02

 

[CEHollier]

I contacted Ruger and they advised against using Remington Thunderbolt bullets. States they will build lead in the barrel. Even with cleaning.

 

[LACamper]

All .22's leave lead in the barrel, some to a greater degree than others. Personally I like .22 stingers. I tried Eley target once and it gummed up my Buckmark, and that was expensive ammo!
There was a good article in Precision Shooting a while back that demonstrated how some lead it the barrel was a good thing in a .22 benchrest rifle. It tightened up the chamber some, and lead would get moved into some of the wider spots in the barrel. He also suggested that guns that tended to deposit lead on the bottom of the barrel would be more accurate. His theory was that the extra lead in the bottom of the chamber would help support the later rounds so that they would enter the chamber 'straighter'. He thought if you could figure out where your new barrel was depositing more lead, it could be tightened (in a bolt gun) so that the lead was on the bottom, increasing accuracy.
Interesting theory (and this is my condensed paragraph of a 6 single-spaced page article I read about 5 years ago). It made sense, kinda, when I read it. If you're interested, call Precision, I'm sure they can dig up a copy of the article for you. They're good people.